Jonathan Turley in the article ‘Polygamy laws expose our own hypocrisy’ outlines the controversy of polygamy laws in the United States. Although he also detests polygamy, he finds the laws covering the concept a bit contradictory to some religious beliefs as well as the initial statues like the first amendment which was passed to protect the American citizens. It is because of such reasons that the author thinks these laws only expose the hypocrisy of the American people. Most importantly, Turley makes a keen use of examples in his article to persuade the readers that his thoughts are in fact valid. Personally, I find the example of the musician Britney Spears very persuasive. The author tries to explain that although marrying more than one partner happens to be illegal, it is quite absurd that one can practice the same only at different times. An individual like Britney can therefore decide to marry various partners in succession and this is not viewed as being polygamous. Additionally, Turley makes a proper use of biblical reference to show the connection of polygamy to religion and I also find the examples used very persuasive. The author for instance sites a couple of great men like Jacob, Solomon, Abraham and David in the old testament, who were polygamous and were still favoured by God(Turley,2) Through this example, he points out that polygamy should not be ruled out as illegal without a keen consideration of an individual’s religious beliefs.
Remarkably, I did not find the example of ‘Green’s case’ being any bit persuasive. In this example, the author thinks that Green having married a 13 year old girl despite having other wives should have been persecuted for only sex crime but not polygamy. I however think that both apply since Green is considered to have married more than one wife with disregard of who he married. In the case therefore, it was right for him to be persecuted of both polygamy and for being a pedophile.
Reference
Turley, Jonathan. Polygamy Laws Expose Our Own Hypocrisy. Retrieved from:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/columnist/2004-10-03-turley_x.htm
